Pros and Cons: HASCON

We didn’t know what to expect from HASCON, which took place in Providence, RI last weekend. My entire family are veteran congoers, so we were skeptical if HASCON would meet up to my ten-year-old son’s and seven-year-old daughter’s expectations. We were pleasantly surprised.

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But first, the bad. This was the inaugural HASCON, held across the street from Hasbro's headquarters, so a lot of “new con” issues cropped up: poor communication about events, running out of food at the con center, parking costing $15 no matter how long you’re at the con, a clumsy events app, mismatched booths (the Nerf booth kept firing foam bullets into the little kids at the Hanazuki booth on the other side), and a general sense that all of HASCON is there to sell stuff – which most cons are guilty of, it’s just that at this con there’s only one company to blame.

That aside, misgivings about the con evaporated as soon as Optimus Prime welcomed us to HASCON in the parking garage. The voice of some bored guy pleading with us to press a button and take a ticket was replaced with special guest Peter Cullen’s voice welcoming us as Optimus. It was glorious and my kids talked about it for days afterward.

Hasbro owns half the toy universe, so there’s booths (Hasbro insists on calling them “brand experiences”) on just about everything you could want. For my daughter there was Baby Alive, Furreal Friends, Hanazuki (a cartoon series that hasn’t even launched yet but that my kids love already), Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, Sesame Street, and Trolls. For my son there was Nerf, including a full Nerf arena where you can fire foam bullets at all your friends. They both enjoyed Beyblade (enough to realize it wasn’t for them) and the Play-Doh workshops. For my wife there was Marvel (she’s Team Iron Man) and Star Wars. And of course, I was there for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

I wrote recently about how D&D seems to be on the rise in Hasbro’s estimation, and the proof was in how D&D was treated at HASCON. There were VIP passes for games spanning all three days of the con as well as pickup games and family-friendly games. Magic was definitely bigger, but D&D was represented with its own large brand booth.

Speaking of D&D and Magic, evidence that the two teams now play nicely together (a far cry from the infighting that kept a D&D/Magic crossover from happening) was on display in the panels. The first panel was “D&D Monster Building,” where we built a spidershark that spits toothwebs and I got to ask Mike Mearls when we can expect a Gamma World supplement for D&D (he responded with a well-thought out answer that makes me think this has been discussed by WOTC). The harmony was even on more display at “Building the World’s Best in Fantasy Gaming” which featured M:TG staff (Matt Danner, Cynthia Sheppard, Jeremy Jarvis) and current and former D&D staff (Richard Whitters and James Wyatt). Both groups clearly share best practices and value each other’s’ contributions, which was great to see.

There were plenty of vendors, nearly limitless activities for the kids and adults, and of course opportunities to buy merchandise, including con exclusives: Transformers Optimus Prime Converting Power Bank (for my son), Transformers Generations Titans Return Arcee Special Edition Set (for my daughter) and Dungeons & Dragons My Little Pony Dice Tin for my D&D/MLP campaign.

With $15 parking, $165 for an adult 3-day pass and $75 for kids, HASCON ain’t cheap (Groupon had single day tickets at half-price). I spoke to someone who bought the VIP tickets ($600 for adult “superfans” of certain Hasbro franchises, including D&D and M:TG) and they felt the perks were not worth the price. But judging by my daughter’s tears as we drove away, this con was the best she’s ever attended. If Hasbro can smooth out some of the issues and bring the price down, we’ll definitely be back next year!

Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.

 

[talien]

Not sure you know what hostile means.

He just pointed out that it's a big advertisement that they are charging people to watch.

Typical conventions vendors use the platform to promote their goods or services hoping to attract new customers who are unaware of their business.

This is nothing of the sort. Everyone attending knows what Hasbro offers. Unless there are special announcements and very nice goody bags then I wouldn't touch Hascon with a 10 foot pole.

A comparison would be blizzcon, but look at the excitement and offerings of Blizzcon. They don't even compare.

I specifically mentioned "a general sense that all of HASCON is there to sell stuff – which most cons are guilty of, it’s just that at this con there’s only one company to blame."

I think it's possible to go to a con and at the same time, feel a little uncomfortable with the tradeoff of it being run by one company. At most conventions, the variety of companies at each booth means that if you don't like one booth or how it's being run, you move on. At HASCON, it was all Hasbro, all the time, and there was only one company at fault if there was a problem (like the Nerf booth pummeling little kids on the opposite side of it).

All that said though, one big company having complete control over a con meant for the most part the con ran VERY smoothly. Every single staff member we encountered was pleasant, very accommodating, and great with kids. One of the staff at the food servery ran down several flights of stairs to get the last peanut butter/apple snack (in the entire convention center!) for my son, who can't eat anything else there due to food allergies.

My kids are STILL talking about HASCON weeks later. Hasbro definitely knows how to entertain con-going families, which I believe there will even more of as time goes on. I expect we'll see more of this type of con in the future.

 

[JonathonWilder]

You could classify me as a brony, since I play a MLP/D&D-themed game with my daughter, but if that qualifies then the dads were indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd.

Thanks for your reply, it's appreciated. Though the quote above interests me.

Have you perhaps heard of Ponyfinder, and more particularly of how it was recently converted to D&D 5e from Pathfinder by Kickstarter? Essentially, it is a 3rd party series by Silver Games LLC which adds ponies to roleplaying. Though not just ponies, but other races as well such as Griffins, Changelings, Purrsians, and Ghost Ponies. It avoids copyright concerns by the creator making his own setting called Everglow with aspects that would recognizable to those who watched the show.

Cutiemarks are called Marks of Destiny, Crystal Ponies are Gem Ponies, Changelings are Doppelgangers, exc. Also in the deities, such as the Sun Queen with Princess Celestia, Moon Princess with Princess Luna, Night Mare with Nightmare Moon, The Unspoken with Discord, Kyra with Queen Chrysalis, Princess Luminescence with Twilight Sparkle, and The Author to Lauren Faust.

All in all, worth checking out if you and your daughter enjoying playing MLP/D&D-themed games.

 

[talien]

I was a backer for the Kickstarter Ponyfinder conversion to D&D 5E. My daughter plays a MLP-style pegasus, I play a MLP-style griffon, and my son plays a MLP-style dragon in our D&D game. We're running through Princes of the Apocalypse with hilarious results, and I've been turning it into a web comic.

That said, Twilight Sparkle and co. are actually IN the game in their Equestria Girl forms, and are slowly being rescued and restored to their true pony forms by tracking down the Elements of Harmony (which are the four artifacts in Princes of the Apocalypse).

I liked the Ponyfinder concept, but there's a lot of effort to get around the copyrights when my daughter just wants to play in the MLP universe. So we use Cheesdoodle96's rules for 5E D&D and it works great: https://cheezedoodle96.deviantart.com/art/MLP45E-Dungeons-and-Dragons-With-Ponies-490872927

 

[JonathonWilder]

Thanks for the reply Talien,

Hmm, well taking a look at MLP45E it does have a lot going for it. Especially for those who might want to play a purely Equestrian game, and many of the feats seem perfect for a couple of characters I'd have in mind. I may give it a go, though I am a strong supporter of the Ponyfinder system created by David as I was part of two of his kickstarters.

Chuckles, it is actually three of my characters on the front cover of the Dawn of the Fifth Age Campaign Guide and one on the Forgotten Past. That of Mythos Gray as a Bard, Golden Dawn as a Paladin of The Crown, and Star Dream as a Diviner or when considering MLP45E a Cleric of the Moon perhaps. Mythos actually being my "go to pony" when roleplaying most often. You can actually find him described in the book.

Sadly, I will admit that I don't often have the chance to do an Equestrian/MLP/Ponyfinder Campaign nor have I been able to be a part of one for an extended time. Still, going back on topic, I am glad you enjoyed yourself at the HASBROCON. Perhaps if they do it next year I could go myself.

 

[gatesvp]

My family gives almost too much money to Hasbro. My kid loves Transformers & MLP, I play D&D & MTG, this Con made me excited. Except, as a West-Coaster, the location was less than great.

Skip the attendance costs, the flight costs to RI are quite high. There were no direct flights from even major hubs like SFO. Some friends mentioned flying in to various hubs and driving the rest of the way. But all of the variants mean $600 in transportation costs from this side of the mountains.

Don't get me wrong, I understand _their_ reason for doing this. It's much cheaper to bring in your local staff. But the trade-off is that you price out a significant chunk of the country if your don't run out of a "hub" city.

 

[Rhone1]

The Con was good for kids, not so good for adults.

 

[darjr]

Ah! It looks like Baldmangames ran the AL rooms. Cool! I hope they subsidize DMs that run a ton of hours like at GenCon and other places. I just might go then. It looks like a ton of fun.

 

[Zarithar]

No issue on our side, but I think we need to be at least somewhat tolerant to fandom if we frequent cons!

Amen. Nothing makes my blood boil faster than geeks disparaging other geeks. Most of us have been picked on at some point for falling outside of the mainstream, and we should know better.